So many candidates were very excited with the announcement of the 2013 JAMB cut-off marks. The official cut off marks for All Universities were pegged at 180 and other institutions, polytechnics and colleges of Education (COE) were placed at 150.

While we're not trying to dash hopes for any candidate, we're only trying to state the facts based on experiences www.myschool.com.ng has had in the past.

When JAMB places cut-off marks, they are only placing a benchmark on which no institution should go below. This is usually done to uphold the standard of education in the country. This simply means that for the University cut-off mark of 180, no university is supposed to admit any student who scored below 180. It however does not mean that the university does not have the right to set a higher cut-off than the benchmark given by JAMB. Same applies to polytechnics, COEs and other institutions that have been given 150 and above.

In the past, it has been noticed that despite the agreed cut-off of 180, most prominent universities have always placed cut-offs on 200 and above for Post-UTME Screening for admission into the institution or for Engineering or Medical faculties. While this may seem unfair, we believe it's basically a way to curtail the number of candidates and resources to be spent in conducting the exam, while still trying to get the best students. In actual fact, IT IS WRONG FOR UNIVERSITIES TO DO THIS

The initial reason for introduction of Post-UTME was to actually "Re-Check" those with high marks and expose them if indeed they had actually cheated in JAMB's UTME. This process is supposed to give everyone a level playing ground using the internal security of the institutions conducting post-UTME. In the past, it was noticed that the number of candidates who scored between 180 and 220 in JAMB actually did better in the Post-UTME than those with 230 and above in UTME. Hence the relevance of Post-UTME. Having explained this, all Universities should be encouraged to call all students from 180 and above to their post-UTME screening and should not delay the dreams of bright students by cutting 200.

With the recent improvement in JAMB's system of curbing exam malpractice, this may seem to undermine the relevance of the Post-UTME. But what can Myschool say? If a student can use his brains to score high marks in JAMB, then he should be able to replicate such performance in the Post-UTME.

At this point, we encourage all those going in for Post-UTME to try and do it once and for all. Try as much as possible to get our Post-UTME past questions and Solutions. We will also be offering you 1 Year of SMS alerts in case your school announces Post-UTME, results, admission list etc. To get it now, register and select your school after clicking here